These pilots never leave the ground // MAP, PHOTO GALLERY

BAYOU GEORGE — Flying in low, the Cessna-looking plane buzzed by leaving a smoke trail in its wake and attempted to climb. The engine sputtered, stalling momentarily as the plane thrusted vertical.

ZACK McDONALD | The News Herald

BAYOU GEORGE — Flying in low, the Cessna-looking plane buzzed by leaving a smoke trail in its wake and attempted to climb. The engine sputtered, stalling momentarily as the plane thrusted vertical.

“Uh-oh,” an onlooker spoke under his breath. “Don’t lose it, man.”

Righting itself in the skyline, the pilot leveled out and brought it in for a safe landing on the worn, grass runway.

The pilot was not actually fearful for his life, though. He was controlling the aircraft from the ground.

Members of the Miracle Strip RC Modelers club meet almost daily in the northeastern reaches of Bay County, just south of Bay Dunes Golf Course, to get their kicks flying all sorts of remote control aircrafts.

“It’s a big thrill,” said Jim Pippins, club president. “All of us have been doing this for several years and we all still get that thrill we have since the time we were kids.”

PHOTO GALLERY

Some of the smaller electrical planes can dance on the wind in nimble aerial acrobatics while the larger engine planes can hit barrel rolls and sharp cuts on the horizon at breakneck speeds — acts physically impossible for human pilots.

Aircrafts

The Mud Duck

Operated by Alex Hudnall, member for 15 years and former enlisted air rescue member, the Mud Duck is an original. Hudnall designed every aspect of the yellow and red, single-propeller, 20-pound aircraft with a 50-cc 2-cycle engine, he said.

“This is strictly homemade experimental,” Hudnall said. “I like building. A lot of these guys like the precision aerobatics, and I just prefer to fly straight and on a level pattern.”

The Mud Duck is a “rattletrap,” Hudnall said, and wobbles in the air on a straight, intentional path. Hudnall said he would feel comfortable taking the real Mud Duck to the skies despite its volatile nature.

He also said he has crashed his share of experiments.

“I ain’t the best, but I have fun,” Hudnall said.

Edge-540

Pippins scale model Edge-540 can emit a smoke trail as it loops and dips in the sky reaching G-force speed unbearable to humans. Easily one of the larger RC aircrafts, the Edge-540 is scaled to nearly half the size of the real thing and contains a 2-cylinder 170-cc engine.

“This airplane is capable of just about anything you can make an airplane do,” Pippins said. “It’ll hover, roll, fly inverted and do any stunts a full-scale aircraft can — and some a full-scale aircraft can’t.”

The Edge is an assembled aircraft that costs on the high end of RC planes at about $3,000. Beginner aircrafts can start out at a couple hundred dollars and reach more than $20,000, Pippins said. The smoke system keeps people entertained, he said, but the power of the aircraft is puts them at awe.

“It’s a lot of power,” Pippins said. “I hold back a little bit, but it can really power through just about anything.”

RC Enthusiasts

The 78 members of Miracle Strip RC Modelers range in age as much as their aircraft preferences. Members span from the group’s charter members, who are mostly retired military or actually licensed pilots, to the younger pilots, who have been raised on video game simulations identical to RC flight.

The two youngest kids are 6- and 8-year-olds.

“These kids that come out here, they can pick it up like it’s second nature,” Hudnall said. “It’s something they’re used to. For a 6-year-old to fly an airplane in my day it was unheard of.”

An Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) license is required to operate the RC aircrafts but anyone and everyone is invited to come and watch. The club has progressed with the blessing of the Bay County Commission — Chairman George Gainer, especially, Pippins said.

The club anticipates expanding its airfield to separate areas for RC helicopters and RC airplanes in the near future.

“We’re always open to new people coming out here,” Pippins said. “We can put them on the trainer and help them get used to flying.”

They meet at least every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, if there is a chance for clear whether, from about 2 p.m. to dusk.

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